City, retailers' roundup of stray carts pays off

Efforts have cut abandonment by 57 percent

This year, staff from several Chandler divisions hit the streets in a series of comprehensive sweeps to address a common nuisance: stray shopping carts.

The carts that make their way from retailers' parking lots into surrounding neighborhoods aren't a problem just because they give the appearance of blight. The metal or plastic carts also pose a safety hazard when they block streets and sidewalks and limit access to alleys and other areas needed by police, fire and trash-collection vehicles.

The city's Transportation, Municipal Utilities, Community Services and Neighborhood Resources, which includes code enforcement, set out to round up stray shopping carts on four dates between March 20 and April 24. Each time out, they picked up about 80 carts and returned them to the retailers.

On April 30, city officials met with representatives of some of the major retail outlets to present their findings and discuss a solution.

"Basically, we offered them the opportunity to create a process to take care of it themselves so the city didn't have to look at other approaches," Chandler Neighborhood Preservation manager Malcolm Hankins said.

The retailers, which include Albertsons, Fry's, Home Depot, Target, Safeway, Walmart and Chandler-based Bashas' family of stores -- some of the largest stores in the city -- agreed to step up efforts to address the issue.

The results have been impressive.

In the two cart roundups that Chandler staffers completed since that meeting, the number of stray carts was cut by 57 percent, Hankins said.

"We don't want to give the impression that the problem is completely resolved," Hankins said. "But we wanted to give them an opportunity to be a partner in resolving it, and the initial result is that they are doing that."

Stores have taken different steps, and many methods seem to be working.

Some retailers have installed devices on their shopping carts to lock the wheels if the cart gets too far from the store. That doesn't always stop more determined people. Some carts equipped with those devices have been found far beyond store property.

Other stores contract with companies to retrieve stray carts. Still others use their own staff to round them up.

Kristy Jozwiak, spokeswoman for the Bashas' group, which includes Food City and AJ's Fine Foods, said the company uses a cart-retrieval service.

"We work with two outside companies that work with us seven days a week to retrieve any carts that might happen to walk off property, so to speak," Jozwiak said. "We also have an 800 number on all of our carts, so if someone notices a cart that should be at a grocery store, they can call. That number goes straight to our retrieval services and they will send someone out to retrieve that cart."

Carts often end up in neighborhoods because some shoppers do not have a way to take their purchases home except by walking. Jozwiak said Bashas' tries to work with those people to find a solution.

Some of the company's stores will get contact information from customers to allow them to take the carts home with the promise that they will be returned.

"At a few of our stores where we know transportation is an issue in terms of them getting groceries home, we'll set up a system where they can kind of rent them," Jozwiak said. "If you buy more than two or three bags of groceries and the only way you have to get around is walking, it can be a challenge."

While abandoned carts have been found in all areas of Chandler, the problem is most prevalent in the north-central part of the city. That area is bounded by the Western Canal along the northern border, Chandler Boulevard to the south, McQueen Road to the east and Price Road to the west.

The challenge going forward includes getting cooperation from the smaller retail outlets as well as the larger ones without a policy for dealing with errant carts.

"In some cases, it depended on who answered the phone when we called," Hankins said. "Sometimes you would get people who would just tell you to throw the cart away."

Though the city does not have any cart roundups planned, there could be more if stores fail to continue to make progress in keeping carts out of neighborhoods.

"It's a work in progress," Hankins said. "We're still trying to make sure if there is a problem the retailers are responsive and take ownership of it. So far, they've been doing that."